TIPS program not tip of privacy-invasion iceberg, DOJ official says

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8/19/2002

Reflecting
the Bush administration's recent tweaking of the controversial
TIPS program, Assistant Attorney General Deborah J. Daniels Aug.
15 said only the trucking, shipping, mass transit and maritime
industries will have access to the TIPS hotline.

In a New
York Daily News editorial, Daniels wrote: "Let me set the
record straight. The hotline number will not be shared with any
workers, including postal and utility employees, whose job puts
them in contact with homes and private property.

"Information
about how to access the hotline would be provided only to trucking,
shipping, maritime and mass transit industries whose workers are
in a unique position along our highways, waterways, ports and
public transit routes to see the types of publicly-observable
information that could be reported to TIPS."

For example,
a trucker may call about a large vehicle parked under a bridge
that seems out of place, Daniels said. Or, a lobsterman might
call about a strange vessel with large telescopes on its deck.
Daniels also stressed the Terrorist Information and Prevention
System is a volunteer program.